Indian Rupee Gains By 29 Paise to 71.59 Against US Dollar

The Indian rupee gains by 29 paise to 71.59 against the US dollar on Wednesday in enabling crude oil prices. After starting the session at 71.74 against the greenback, the rupee climbed to as high as 71.59 in afternoon deals compared with its previous close of 71.85. It gave up some of those gains and last seen trading against the US currency at 71.64. Sharp losses in domestic equity markets within continued foreign fund outflows kept the gain in rupee in check, according to analysts.

Stock market benchmark indices S&P BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty extended losses to the fourth session in a row to hit their lowest intraday levels recorded since February 3.

International crude oil prices gave up early gains and extended losses for the fourth day in a row on Wednesday, amid coronavirus breakout in China affecting the world growth.

On Tuesday, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) announced two additional tranches of three-year Long-Term Repo Operations (LTROs) worth Rs 25,000 crore each on March 2 and March 9.

That was part of the central bank’s plan at its sixth bi-monthly policy review this month to launch repurchase agreements worth Rs 1 lakh crore, aimed at enabling commercial banks to reduce their lending rates.